Wedding Day Styles

Most of you know we’re getting married soon…well it’s four days away now and it’s finally hit home. I feel sick with nerves at the prospect of walking into a room full of people – the idea of everyone looking at me is literally my worst nightmare but thankfully, I’ll have my two little amigo’s no doubt taking the limelight away from me.

Our wedding isn’t at all traditional. We are avoiding as many traditions as we can…no speeches, no best man, no formal bridesmaids (Elsa and Emmeline!), no cutting the cake. We’re having a BBQ garden party with a few friends and family. Nothing major but it’s exactly what we want. I love traditional weddings, I really do, but it just doesn’t suit us so we have decided to have the day we’ll feel most comfortable with.

My parents didn’t marry in the “normal” fashion either. Whilst away on holiday in 1977 visiting friends in the US, they decided to get married and chose a field as their venue. Two friends and their partners were the guests with my dad wearing flares and a big collared shirt and mum wearing a beautiful dress she found locally. They used (table clothed) up turned oil drums as tables to hold pink Champagne and honeymooned in a log cabin. It worked for them. I can’t imagine my parents ever doing anything the formal way…

I love hearing about unorthodox weddings so I asked some other bloggers to share their wacky weddings:

Giving Granny a role – one person told me about how they had her eighty year old Granny as one of the bridesmaids. What an amazing idea! I’m sure she was thrilled at having been asked and what a wonderful touch on a clearly very close relationship. Or if Granny doesn’t want to be a bridesmaid, how about asking her to make a speech like one couple chose to do. Can you imagine how cool it would be at the age of ninety something to give a speech at your grandchild’s wedding? Good on them for including such an important member of the family.

Aisle walk with who I want – “Giving the bride away” (every feminist cell in my body cringes when I hear this phrase) is not something I’m keen on and I prefer to see it as simply escorting the bride down the aisle so she doesn’t have to do it alone. I know the tradition is symbolic and the father is seen to be handing his daughter over to the care of another man but I literally can’t cope with that. And nowadays it seems that many people are bucking the usual trend in aisle companionship and asking other people to walk with them especially if the relationship with their dad isn’t hugely close or they want to include a step-dad in the procession. Many also ask their mother to walk with them if the relationship there is stronger or some walk in together with their partner. Some have both parents as a show of solidarity. One lady told me that her best friend escorted her which must have been brilliant fun, another asked her two young nephews and many have their children walk with them which again is so wonderful. Saying all this, I do love tradition and think it’s a beautiful sight to see a father and daughter walk down the aisle together. That final closeness before moving into your next phase of life is memorable and something neither party will ever forget.

And not just for the walk down the aisle. Many brides now make speeches as well as or in replacement of the groom perhaps if they are the more confident public speaker or just because they want to share the fun responsibilities that come with a wedding. One woman told me that her mother made a speech which I can imagine would be so inspiring – hearing your mum speak in front of all those people would be a really proud moment. And why does it have to be a Best Man? We have Best Women these days taking on the lead role in proceedings 🙂

One woman said that instead of a speech, her husband sung her a song and played a ukulele! Joe, seriously I’m expecting something awesome of Saturday by the way. An impromptu flash dance with your friends?!

Everyone loves a theme, right? I used to obsessively watch Don’t tell the bride with Elsa and we’d laugh at some of the hilarious themes the guys chose as focal for their wedding (usually around a subject they loved rather than their future wife). One lady told me that for their wedding, they had a Christmas theme (Winter season obvs) with Christmas trees and decorations adorning the reception. And another couple are huge Red Dwarf fans so focused their wedding around this hit show, even walking back down the aisle to the infamous theme tune.

Then we have lots of quirky changes to typical traditions. Some of the most unusual that I heard about were as follows: button instead of flower bouquets, paper aeroplane confetti, samba dancing, gospel choirs replacing a band, a limbo competition and a grand finale belly dance by the bride! How about having no flowers to decorate the venue but instead filling vases with pick n mix sweets?

Unusual venues and schedules…

Marrying up in the mountains, taking photos in a banana field and then playing cards with a Cypriot woman was one bride’s memorable day. I would literally LOVE to attend a wedding like this.

But my favourite story of all is this one. I’m waiting to see if the lady in question has any useable photos of her dress as I’d really love to see them…

“We got married 3 weeks after deciding to, that was the quickest we could get a licence. We chose a Friday to keep numbers down. I didn’t want anything fancy, I made my own dress and dyed a pair of shoes I already had. I didn’t want a wedding ring but my mum insisted and bought me one. I used it for the ceremony and never worn it since. I didn’t want a cake but my father-in-law made one. I didn’t want a party but my mother-in-law organised one at her house. Everyone thought they knew better than us. I just wanted to be married, I didn’t want the big ceremony. My only regret is we didn’t have digital photography in those days and my wedding photos got lost in the post. We have been married for 43 years.”

I would LOVE to hear about your wedding days. Whether traditional, quirky, weird or laid back, I’d love to know what you did.

Thanks to everyone who helped give me the content for this post and especially:

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Comments

Gorgeousgsmama on Jun 13 2017

Thanks for the mention. And I’m so sorry I forgot to congratulate you on your impending wedding. Have an amazing day, your day done your way and soak up every minute. I love weddings so much. I e literally offered to pay to be a guest at some lol

I’d love to attend an Indian and a Greek style wedding.

admin on Jun 13 2017

Ahh yes me too, I’d love to go to an Indian wedding. They are literally incredible! Thanks for your help with this post x